With the explosion in communication via the Internet in recent years, there has been a corresponding increase in demand for high bandwidth communications, such as that provided by optical fibers. Optical fiber cables have been deployed over short distances ranging from a few hundred feet, such as within a building or between nearby buildings, to a few thousand feet in some metropolitan and fiber-to-the-curb installations. Various techniques for pulling or blowing of communication fibers have been employed for both initial and add-on installations through ducts or tubes over these relatively short distances. Installations exceeding one or two thousand feet present challenges in fiber cable breakage and degraded fiber performance. The performance of optical fibers, such as Medium Dispersion Fiber types can be extremely sensitive to cabling effects. Inadequate cable designs allow excessive installation forces to be imparted to fibers within the cable.
“Backbone” or “long haul” optical fiber installations spanning inter-city distances of tens or hundreds of miles are considerably more difficult to achieve using convenient cable blowing techniques. When conventional fiber cables designed for building riser applications are applied to long haul installations, they are susceptible to breakage or excessive strain resulting in risky installations and poor fiber performance. Therefore, there exists a need for optical fiber cable suitable for long span optical fiber installations.